The Needs of the Many
by Pyromon
Summary: Take's place after "Playing Games". Matt must learn about himself and his destiny, and with the help of some old friends, learns that The Needs of the many outwheigh the needs of the few or the one.


Writers Note: For those of you that will be reading this story, it is my first attempt to write a story that is not broke down into chapters, so please bare with me. The story starts up where _Playing Games_ left off at. 

Pyromon

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The Needs of the Many

He ran through the forest, until he could run no more. Tears streamed down his face, leaving trails of moisture. He looked up, and saw that Gabumon had followed him. "Matt, why did you take off like that?" the digimon asked his human partner.

Matt stared at Gabumon, and quickly wiped the tears away, and looked at his digimon, his partner, his friend. "I don't know Gabumon, I just don't know." He then fell next to a tree, and pulling his legs up tight to him, buried his face in his knees.

He was only in this position for a few minutes, when he heard his name being called, "Matt!" It was TK, his younger brother, who only minutes earlier, had returned to the group, with his digimon partner, Patamon, after escaping the Dark Master, Puppetmon. Matt had been unable to do anything to help TK when Puppetmon had taken him away. And what was worse, he had yelled at Sora, Tai and the others, which somehow stopped Gabumon from warp digivolving to Metalgarurumon when they were fighting Kiwimon. 

Matt quickly stood up, and started running again, as the tears started to come back into his eyes. He could here Gabumon shout out his name, but he did not care, all he wanted was to get away, so that he could figure this whole mess out. But as he ran, the tears clouded up his vision, which forced him to close his eyes, and without realizing it, he ran off of the side of a cliff, and fell hard to the ground below, hitting his head, and knocking him out.

Matt felt something hit his face, and he finally opened his eyes, and saw what he could only classify as a ghost, as he looked up into the eyes of Piximon. "Piximon?" Matt asked, obviously very confused. He then sat up, and saw that there was a fire lit not to far away. But what caught Matt's attention, was the digimon that sat next to the fire, Wizardmon. 

"Come young Matt, and have something to eat." Piximon said, as he walked over to the fire, and sat down next to Wizardmon.

Matt got up, and walked over to the fire, and sat down himself. "Here, eat this." Wizardmon said, as he handed Matt a dish of some sort of liquid, and he took it. He looked at the dish, and inhaled the smell of it. He then brought the edge of it to his lips, and tilted it up, so that the liquid poured through his open lips. "I suspect that you are wondering what we are doing here." Wizardmon said, as Matt finished the contents of that bowl off.

"That is one of the questions that I have." Matt said, as he set the bowl down in front of him.

"Why we are here is not important, the important question is, why are you here, and without Gabumon to protect you if you got into trouble?" Piximon shot at Matt.

"It is sort of a long story." Matt said.

There was a splash of behind him. When he looked back, Matt saw that they were next to a huge lake that seemed to be attached to the ocean. In the lake, Whamon swam. "Then tell us, and we will see if we can help you." Matt took a deep breath, and began to tell the 3 digimon about all of the things that had happened to him and the others since Whamon was deleted. When he finished the 3 digimon just looked at him, with a stare of wonder.

"So your Digi-Vice and Crest would not glow and warp digivolve Gabumon into Metalgarurumon." Piximon said.

"And after all that you went through to give him the ability to do that." Wizardmon added.

Matt sighed, "I wish that I knew what was wrong with the Crest." He said.

"Don't you have the Crest of _Friendship_?" Whamon asked.

Matt thought for a moment, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" he finally asked.

"Everything." Piximon said, "The Crest is an amplification of a trait that you hold the most in your heart." Piximon paused for a moment, and then continued, "When you began to yell at your friends, you were not showing them friendship."

"And," Wizardmon picked up, "Because you were not giving them your friendship in this tough time, Gabumon was unable to digivolve to his Mega form."

Shortly after the conversation had ended, everyone fell asleep, except for Matt, who sat next to the fire thinking about what Wizardmon and Piximon had said. He pulled out his Crest, and looked at it. 'Why is this happening.' Matt thought, 'I have let everyone down, and it is all my fault.'

"You have not let anyone down." Wizardmon said, as he sat up.

Matt turned to face the digimon, a little startled, that is until he remembered Gatomon saying that Wizardmon had the ability to read other peoples minds. "Do you always intrude on other peoples thoughts Wizardmon?" Matt asked.

"Not always, but sometimes, when it is necessary." Wizardmon said in a calm voice. "Now get some sleep, you will need your rest to find your friends tomorrow." He then laid down, and prepared to go back to sleep.

"Wait," Matt said. Wizardmon sat back up, and looked at him. "Back on that rooftop, when you jumped in to save Kari and Gatomon, why did you do it?"

Wizardmon looked at Matt, and thought for a moment, to come up with the right words. "I believe that you humans have a saying, 'The needs of the many, outweigh the need of the few or the one'. Have you ever heard that saying before Matt?" Wizardmon asked.

Matt nodded, "I heard it on a movie once, and long time ago, but I didn't understand what it meant then, and in some ways, I still don't."

"Well," Wizardmon said, thinking about how to best explain the meaning of the saying to Matt, "it refers to the belief that if one person sacrifices themselves for the good of a hundred people, or in this case digimon, then that live should not be considered a loss." Wizardmon looked at Matt, and he looked as if he understood what he had just said, "When I took the full force of Myotismons blast, in order to save Kari and Gatomon, I did it because they were needed to save this world, as well as your own."

"And so you considered your life was a small price to pay for their safety." Matt said, with understanding.

"Exactly," Wizardmon said, "the same is true for when Chumon took that dagger that was meant for Mimi, or when Piximon stood alone against the Dark Masters while you made your escape, or even when Whamon came back to help Wargreymon defeat Metalseadramon. We all did not die in vein, we died, because we made a choice to help you."

"And in doing that, you also showed your friendship to us." Matt said.

Wizardmon nodded, "I think that we can help you yet Matt." He said, as he laid back down on the ground, and fell into a deep sleep. Matt laid down himself, and while staring up at the stars, thought about what Wizardmon had just said, before falling asleep himself.

Matt awoke to find himself at the bottom of a cliff. He looked around but could find no sign of Piximon, Wizardmon, or Whamon. Confused, he stood up, and then gripped his head, as a shot of pain ran through it. He held his head for a moment, before bringing his hand back down. He looked at it, and saw that there was a small amount of his blood on it. He then looked back at the spot that he was laying, and saw why his head was bleeding. When he had fallen off of the cliff, he had hit his head on a rock. He then wondered if his conversation with the 3 digimon had just been a dream, until he realized that he remembered the entire conversation, which was uncommon for dreams.

Matt looked up the cliff, and saw that the only way up was to climb. He sat down for a few moments, until he was alright. When he was satisfied that everything was ok, he stood back up, and walked over to the side of the cliff, and grabbed hold of a stone, using it to pull himself up. It only took him a short time to reach the top of the cliff, and it was there that he heard the sounds of battle coming from deeper inside of the forest. He took off running in that direction, all the time, remembering the phrase that Wizardmon had told him.

"_Nova Blast_!" Greymon shouted, as he released a fireball at Puppetmon.

"You call that an attack?" Puppetmon asked, as he dodged the attack with great ease, "I had termites once that had better attacks than that."

"Then how about a little _Needle Spray_!" Togemon shouted, as she shot out several needles at the Mega digimon.

Puppetmon let all of the needles hit him, "What was that, I've known woodpeckers that hurt me more than that." Puppetmon then brought his hammer around, and pointed it at Greymon and Togemon, "Now try my attack on for size, _Puppet Pummel_!" several blasts left the hammer, and flew out to hit the 2 digimon. Both of them instantly reverted back to Agumon and Palmon.

"Now it is our turn." Kabuterimon shouted, as he and Birdramon flew around behind Puppetmon, "_Electro Shocker_!" 

"_Meteor Wing_!" Birdramon followed.

Both attacks hit Puppetmon, but he shrugged them off. "Nice try, but no cigar. _Puppet Pummel_!" he shouted, as he brought his hammer around, and blasted both Kabuterimon and Birdramon. They both reverted back to Tentomon and Biyomon, and crashed to the ground.

"Tentomon!" Izzy shouted.

"Biyomon!" Sora followed.

Gatomon stood next to Ikkakumon, watching the battle, "I think that it is time that I used this digimon for a scratching post." She then looked up at the larger digimon, "You with me Ikkakumon?"

"You bet I am Gatomon." Ikkakumon said, "Hop on." Gatomon quickly climbed up onto Ikkakumon's head, "Now, _Harpoon Torpedo_!" He shouted, as his horn shot out from the top of his head. Gatomon in the mean time grabbed hold of it, and rode it up to Puppetmon.

When she got close enough to the evil digimon, she jumped off, and brought he claws up to bear, "_Lightning Claw_!" She shouted, as he brought both of her arms down on Puppetmon, and began to scratch at him.

But Puppetmon easily grabbed the smaller and less powerful digimon off of him, and threw her back down to the ground. As he did this, he did not notice that the missile that Ikkakumon had launched Gatomon up to him on, had come around, and was now headed right for him. The missile slammed into him, and detonated. "That got him." Tai said, at Agumons side.

But to his dismay, Puppetmon flew out of the cloud of smoke, "I don't think so." He then turned to Ikkakumon and Gatomon, "Now you don't play fare, so I will have to punish you both." The evil digimon brought his hammer around, "_Puppet Pummel_!" He shouted, as he tried to blast both Ikkakumon and Gatomon. Being a cat, Gatomon was able to dodge the attack more easily, but Ikkakumon was not as lucky, and after just a few hits, he reverted back to Gomamon.

Gatomon stared at Puppetmon, with a look that Kari had not seen on her since they were fighting Myotismon. He crest of _Light _suddenly began to glow, as did Gatomon, "Gatomon digivolve to…Angewomon!"

As Angewomon floated in front of Puppetmon, he began to laugh, "Do you think that a Ultimate digimon will have any more ease defeating me?"

"We will soon see," Angewomon said, as she held he arm up to form an arrow, "_Celestial Arrow_!" She shouted, as she brought the arrow down, and shot it at Puppetmon, who in turn spun around at the last second, and caught the arrow in his hand.

"You really should not play with sharp toys young lady," He said, looking at the arrow, "Because somebody could get hurt." He then threw the arrow back at Angewomon, hitting her hard. She fell to the ground, and reverted back to Gatomon. Puppetmon looked at the 6 fallen digimon, "You guys were fun to play with, but now I have to destroy all of you," He then looked at TK, who was being protected by both Patamon and Gabumon, "starting with you."

TK looked up at the evil digimon, and suddenly felt really scared, "Don't worry TK," Patamon said, "I will protect you." TK looked at Patamon, as he began to glow brightly, "Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!"

"Go get him Angemon." TK shouted.

"TK!" Came a shout from off to the side.

When he looked in the direction of the shout, he saw Matt running up to him, "Matt!" TK shouted, as he ran up next to his brother, and grabbed hold of his leg with a grip that he never knew that he had.

Matt then spotted Gabumon, "Gabumon, it is time to digivolve." He shouted.

"You got it Matt." Gabumon shouted, and suddenly, Matts crest and Digi-Vice began to glow with an intensity that they had never shown before, "Gabumon warp digivolve to…Metalgarurumon!"

Metalgarurumon and Angemon floated in front of Puppetmon, and stared at him. "Now, lets see how you handle another Mega digimon Puppetmon." Metalgarurumon said.

"Then lets play Metalgarurumon." Puppetmon said.

Puppetmon brought his hammer around to point it at the 2 digimon, but Angemon reacted faster, flying in, and using his staff to keep the hammer out of position. "I don't think so Puppetmon." Angemon said. He then turned to Metalgarurumon, "Metalgarurumon, now!"

"You got it Angemon, _Metal Wolf Claw_!" Metalgarurumon shouted as he shot out a blast of ice at Puppetmon. Angemon quickly moved out of the way, but Puppetmon was not as fortunate, and was struck by the icy blast. "Your turn Angemon." Metalgarurumon said.

"With Pleasure, _Hand of Fate_!" Angemon shouted, as he brought his hand back, and shot out a powerful blast that struck Puppetmon, but instead of shattering into pieces, Puppetmon was just broke in half, falling hard to the ground.

Angemon and Metalgarurumon both landed, and reverted back to Patamon and Tsunomon, and ran and bounced up to their friends. There was a groan from Puppetmon, as he watched the four friends gather together, and gripped his hammer tightly in his hand. 'TK must pay for what he did to me. I have only got one shot at this, so I had better make it count.' He thought, as he positioned the hammer so that it was pointing at TK. And then with the last bit of strength that he had left, "_Puppet Pummel_!" and a single blast left the hammer. Puppetmon head then dropped, and he faded away.

Matt saw the blast headed right for TK, and before he could think about what he was doing, he shoved his brother out of the way, and took the blast, all the while, Wizardmon's voice sang out in his head, 'The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few or the One'. Matt was knocked back several feet, and then landed hard on the ground, with a thud. TK and the others all ran over to their fallen friend, and looked at him. "Why did you do that Matt?" Tai asked.

Matt could feel that he was going numb, and was surprised that he still had at least some ability to speak, "Because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one."

"What does that mean?" Mimi asked.

"It was something that Wizardmon told me." Matt choked out, he then turned to TK, "TK, you were right, you can take care of yourself. And now you are going to have to do it all the time."

"Don't say that Matt." TK said, tears beginning to form in his eyes, "You are going to be ok."

Matt did not pay any attention to what TK had just said, but turned his attention to Tai, "Tai, I am sorry about the things that I said earlier, they were uncalled for, and I should never had said them." He paused for a moment, as pain coursed through his body, "But now, I am asking you to please take care of TK for me. Will you do that Tai?"

"Sure Matt." Tai said, fighting back his own tears, "Anything you want buddy."

Matt smiled up at Tai, and a great weariness came over his body, and he was gone, his body going limp. Everyone let their feelings get the better of them, and just let the tears flow.

"Were am I?" Matt asked, as his eyes opened to reveal that he was in a cave of some type, lying on top of a pile of leaves and grass.

A digimon stepped out from the shadows, and stood in front of him. The digimon had on a cloak, with a hood on it that was pulled over his head. "You are in my home," the digimon began, "I am Dreammon."

"Dreammon, what am I doing here?" Matt asked.

"You fell off of a cliff, and hit your head pretty hard on a rock. I found you, and brought you here to rest and recover."

"Well, thank you." Matt said, as he caught on to the digimons name, "What kind of digimon are you?"

Dreammon looked back at Matt, "I am a special digimon, that guards the Digital Dream World, which is where all dreams in the Digi World are made."

Matt thought for a moment, "Then that was all just a dream."

"Yes," Dreammon said, "I had watched you earlier, and realized that you may need some of my help to realize your mistake. But you ran off, and as luck would have it wound up running right to me."

Matt stood up, and looked at the digimon, "Then Puppetmon is still around."

"Yes, and he is at this time looking for your brother." Dreammon said.

"TK!" Matt exclaimed, "I have to go and" He stopped, and realized what he was about to say, "No, that is the wrong thing to do." Matt said, "But I will go back, and help my brother and the others fight Puppetmon, and defeat him for real."

"That's the ticket Matt." Dreammon said, "But I do ask that you do not forget what you learned in your dream."

Matt thought about it for a moment, and then nodded his head, "You can count on it Dreammon." He then headed out of the cave, in search of his friends.

"He will remember now." Piximon said.

"And hopefully, he won't forget again for a long time to come." Dreammon added, as his body faded away, along with Piximon.

Matt ran as hard as he could in the search for his friends, and suddenly heard the sounds of battle. 'Oh no,' he thought, 'it is happening just like in my dream.' He ran up, just in time to see Patamon digivolve to Angemon, and called out, "Gabumon, digivolve." Gabumon and the others all looked at Matt, as he ran up to them.

"Its about time Matt." Tai said.

Matts comment to Tai was interrupted when Gabumon warped into Metalgarurumon, and with Angemons help, defeated Puppetmon, this time shattering him into a thousand pieces that disappeared as they fell to the ground. Angemon and Metalgarurumon then reverted back to Patamon and Tsunomon.

Later that day, after setting up camp for the night, Matt told everyone about the weird dream that Dreammon had given him. When he finished the story, he noticed that all of the digimon where now looking at him. "What?" He asked.

Tentomon spoke up, "You said that the digimon that helped you was called Dreammon?"

"Yeah," Matt said, "what of it?"

"Just that Dreammon was destroyed a long time ago." Gomamon said.

"What do you mean destroyed?" Joe asked.

Biyomon was the one that spoke up this time, "Dreammon was a fully evolved digimon." She began, "But he was destroyed a long time ago by Devimon and the other evil digimon, because his dreams offered hope and promise to all that he gave them to."

"Ever since then," Tsunomon spoke up, "digimon dreams have not existed."

Matt thought for a moment, "Then who helped me out when I fell off that cliff?" But nobody could answer that question, not even Izzy.

"So they have now destroyed Puppetmon as well." Piedmon said, "Then it is time for you to take them on Machindramon."

"It will be a pleasure to destroy the digi-destined, and their annoying digimon." The large digimon bellowed out, and then headed off to do his worst to the digi-destined.

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The End

Or is it?


End file.
